The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas hosted Sin City’s first major live poker tournament series during the month of September. The DeepStack Showdown Poker Series ran from Sept. 7-27, and featured more than $400,000 in guaranteed prize money to be awarded across a 32-event schedule.
- The Venetian Poker Room in Las Vegas hosts the first live poker tournament during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DeepStack Showdown Series launched this week Monday and will run through September 27. The tournament features more than $400,000 in guaranteed prize money as well as 32 events.
- Venetian poker room running live tournament series throughout September and October. The Venetian poker room continues an aggressive approach to the COVID-19 era of live poker in Las Vegas. The Strip property announced the return of its long-running DeepStack Showdown, with the latest edition of the series running Sept.
Venetian poker room running live tournament series throughout September and October
The Venetian poker room continues an aggressive approach to the COVID-19 era of live poker in Las Vegas.
The Strip property announced the return of its long-running DeepStack Showdown, with the latest edition of the series running Sept. 7-27. Another DeepStack Showdown follows Oct. 5-18.
Venetian Las Vegas Deep Stack
The Venetian poker room stands as the first venue to run a major live tournament series in Las Vegas since the COVID-19 pandemic halted live tournament poker in the US. Daily tournaments are up and running at the Venetian, Sahara, and other Las Vegas poker rooms, but the DeepStack Showdown marks the first major tournament series in Las Vegas since the mid-March COVID-19 shutdowns.
Both the September and October DeepStack Showdowns offer more than $400,000 across the multiple events in the series. The October edition of the DeepStack Showdown features $150,000 guaranteed prize pools in some events.
Venetian first to run a live tournament series in the pandemic era
The announcement of the pair of DeepStack Showdowns carries on the Venetian’s reputation as one of the most aggressive live poker operators in the pandemic era.
The venue was one of the last Las Vegas poker rooms to shut down in March as the COVID-19 crisis began to take shape. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered all casinos to cease operations March 18, and authorized properties to reopen June 4.
The Venetian Brings Live Poker Tournaments Back Despite ...
The Venetian poker room wasted no time resuming operations after that, reopening June 5 with four-player max tables. As Las Vegas poker rooms slowly expanded the maximum player numbers per table, the Venetian has usually stood at the front of that curve.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board gave the Venetian poker room authorization to become the first Las Vegas venue to run eight-handed games, and by the end of July, all 32 tables were fitted with the necessary plexiglass dividers to offer eight-max games.
The return of the DeepStack Showdown marks the next step in the Venetian’s efforts to bring live tournament poker back to something resembling pre-pandemic business.
Join us tomorrow @VenetianPoker as we kick off the DeepStack Showdown with more than $400,000 in prize pool guarantees.
Structures: https://t.co/nQ7w2tyoG3pic.twitter.com/1UlPCd0O3v
— Venetian Poker Room (@VenetianPoker) September 7, 2020
Live tournament series could draw hundreds per event
The nature of live poker presents unique challenges during the COVID-19 crisis. While casinos across the US reopened over the summer in a limited capacity, some states still didn’t allow poker room operations to resume.
Casino reopenings in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, didn’t allow for poker rooms to resume business. In California, a ban on indoor entertainment venues shuttered more than 60 cardrooms in the state.
Nevada’s poker rooms did get the green light to resume operations along with the rest of the casino floor when Gov. Sisolak gave the June 4 reopening clearance. Cash games, albeit short-handed, have been running on the Strip for several weeks.
![Venetian Venetian](/uploads/1/3/5/8/135858679/635011985.jpg)
Live tournament poker pushes the potential pandemic complications to another level, however. The cancellation of the 2020 World Series of Poker led to the creation of an online-only version of poker’s most famous event.
US players yearning for the live poker experience are finally seeing some progress in the return of the live version of the game.
The Mid States Poker Tour ran the first major live tournament series in the U.S. since the COVID-19 shutdowns, in the form of the MSPT Grand Falls Casino series in late-August. The series drew record attendance, as players from across the country made the trip to Larchwood, IA (just outside of Sioux Falls, SD) for the first live tournament series in the U.S. in more than five months.
The October 2019 edition of the Venetian DeepStack Showdown saw more than 800 entries registered for the largest guarantee event in the series. With Las Vegas poker players able to enjoy a big live tournament poker series for the first time in more than five months, attendance at the upcoming DeepStack Showdowns could look similar.
Live tournament poker has already returned to Las Vegas with several properties holding in-house events. Leading the way is the Venetian, which kicked off its latest DeepStack Extravaganza on October 26. The series will run through November 29 and offer more than $1.6 million in guarantees.
Venetian Las Vegas Poker Tournaments
That includes a pair of premier mid-major Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) stops. Last weekend, Landon Ticetopped an 1,123-entry field to win the $1,100 buy-in, $200K GTD Main Event for $201,529. This weekend, they will follow that up with a $1,600 buy-in, $400K GTD Main Event from November 19-23.
Both tournaments, which will be live reported by PokerNews, are expected to be busy, meaning players will have a chance to pre-register for the tournament. All pre-registered stacks will be in play at 11:10 a.m. when the tournaments begin.
Date | Buy-In | Tournament | Guarantee |
---|---|---|---|
November 13-15 | $1,100 | MSPT Venetian | $200,000 |
November 19-23 | $1,600 | MSPT Venetian | $400,000 |
The $1,100 buy-in Main Event will start players with 25,000 in chips and play 40-minute levels. Day 1a will take place on Friday, November 13 with Day 1b on Saturday, November 14. Late registration will remain open until 6:25 p.m. both days. The surviving players from both flights will return at 11 a.m. on Sunday, November 15 to play down to a winner.
As for the $1,600 buy-in Main Event, that tournament will start players with 30,000 in chips and play 60-minute levels. There will also be three starting flights instead of two starting with Day 1a at 11:10 a.m. on Thursday, November 19. Days 1b and 1c will take place at the same time on Friday, November 20, and Saturday, November 21 respectively. Late registration will remain open until 1:15 p.m. on Day 2, which will play out on Sunday, November 22.
During the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza, players must wear a mask and sanitize their hands before sitting down. Action is 8-handed at tables featuring Plexiglass dividers, which are wiped down each time a new player comes in. Additionally, dealers are required to sanitize their hands each time they enter and exit a table, and fresh decks of cards are circulated every two hours.
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Venetian Deepstack 2021
MSPT Looks to Continue Momentum
2020 Deepstack Showdown Sept - World Casino News
Due to the pandemic, Season 11 of the MSPT was interrupted at the beginning of March. After a six-month hiatus, the tour returned August 28-30 at Grand Falls Casino, which is situated just outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The stop proved to be a tremendous hit asthe $1,100 buy-in, $100K GTD Main Event attracted 518 entries, well ahead of the venue’s previous record of 238 runners from 2015.
The MSPT is slated to return to Grand Falls on December 18-20 to close out the abbreviated season.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Venetian stops actually mark the second time the tour has visited the venue this year. Back at the end of January, the MSPT hosted the annual $1,100 buy-in, $1 million GTD Poker Bowl, a tournament that attracted 1,093 entries. The night before the Kansas City Chiefs dispatched the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl LIV, Bob Whalen claimed $100,682 in prize money after a five-way deal was struck.
While there is a lot of excitement surrounding the upcoming MSPT events, the tour and venue are already looking ahead to Season 12 with a tentatively-scheduled MSPT Venetian stop on January 1-3, 2021.
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